Travel in Chitwan National Park

Chitwan is the lowland leg of a Nepal trip. The park sits at the foot of the Himalayas on the Terai — the belt of jungle and grassland that once ran across the foothills of India and Nepal, and survives here as one of its few untouched stretches. It is the hot, flat counterweight to the valley temples and the mountain walking. Four of our six Nepal itineraries include it.

Three of those four follow the same shape. Arrival day is the journey in plus a first jungle activity in the afternoon. The next day starts before breakfast with a bird-watching outing or a nature walk, then goes to a jeep safari through the jungle or, in good conditions, a canoe trip. The hotel sets and arranges each activity on the day, according to weather and what is locally possible. The itineraries say that plainly rather than printing a fixed timetable.

One of the last populations of Asian one-horned rhinoceros lives in the park. That is the animal the trips are built around and the one the day notes name. A Bengal tiger is possible rather than likely — no itinerary promises one. Those two are the only animals our Chitwan days name.

The journey in counts on two of the routes. On the nine-day The world of Nepal and the 14-day Culture and Himalayan hiking, the arrival day includes a village visit and the narrow suspension bridges that connect the hill settlements to each other and to the outside — the travel is part of the stop, not dead time.

Nights vary by route, and the difference is real. Two on the nine-day trip and on the 14-day culture route. Three on the 14-day Temples, shrines & Himalayas, the only one with a second full day in the park: day 12 is given over to further jungle activities. One on the 11-day Trekking tour through Nepal, which reaches Chitwan for a single afternoon jeep safari, takes a last breakfast there, then drives back to Kathmandu and straight to the international airport. If you want the jungle as more than a stopover, the 14-day temple route gives it the most room.

Where Chitwan sits in the trip also changes. The nine-day and the 14-day culture route put it early: Kathmandu Valley, then the jungle, then Pokhara and the walking. The temple route reverses that — Pokhara and the Shanti Stupa first, Chitwan late, then back to Kathmandu. The trekking trip reaches it last of all, after the Poon Hill trek and Lumbini.

One seasonal rule is firm: our itineraries state that no jeep safaris run in Chitwan National Park during the rainy months of July, August and September. Everything else is weather-dependent and written that way, the canoe trip especially. If the jungle is the reason you are coming, plan the dates around the rains.

All four trips include hotel accommodation, breakfast, a bottle of water on arrival, a German-speaking guide and someone reachable 24 hours a day for the length of the trip. International flights are not included, and there is no five-star or luxury tier. The four start at EUR 930, EUR 1,350, EUR 1,575 and EUR 1,760. Every one is private, guided and tailor-made — there are no group departures — so how long you spend in the Terai is something we set with you.